General Winter tyres and rims for 100HP

[airlog]

Hoping someone can help with this. Battling with my 100HP in current conditions and using the mytyres website with a view to purchasing some steelies with appropriate winter tyres - hwr, from the drop down menu no 100HP option listed. Which model therefore would be closer the 1.2 8v Panda or the 500 1.4 16v ? Neither option seems the same size as indicated in the 100HP manual supplement ( 5.5J X 14ET with 185/55 R14 80T) ? Any advice much appreciated !

 

[babbo umbro]

Hoping someone can help with this. Battling with my 100HP in current conditions and using the mytyres website with a view to purchasing some steelies with appropriate winter tyres - hwr, from the drop down menu no 100HP option listed. Which model therefore would be closer the 1.2 8v Panda or the 500 1.4 16v ? Neither option seems the same size as indicated in the 100HP manual supplement ( 5.5J X 14ET with 185/55 R14 80T) ? Any advice much appreciated !

You need to go for exactly the spec in the 100HP supplement as far as the wheels go as they'll have different offset from the other Pandas, because of wider standard rims.

 

[Gary]

Steel wheels will be difficult to find due to the width needed to clear the brake calipers

I believe the 500 has a different offset to the Panda

 

[DavePanda100]

What is the spare wheel size in the boot of the 100hp, cant check mine right now, 4 of them?

 

[babbo umbro]

What is the spare wheel size in the boot of the 100hp, cant check mine right now, 4 of them?

It's a spacesaver so four of those would make the handling interesting - but notice that the offset is different from the MJ's, for instance, which explains the toolkit in a bag in the 100HP.

 

[Polypedates]

After two days completey snowed in I finally got mobile again this afternnon by borrowing some snow chains off a friend.

I was hoping to take the Type R as it is vastly better in these conditions to the 100HP but the chains didn't fit so put them on the Panda instead. I'd cleared the drive but it still took 20 minutes and 3 people to get the Type R off the drive and to the side of the road but after that the Panda was able to scoot out and go around the block no problem.

It will be a bit of a pain if I have to fit and refit them too often but at least I'll get to work at last.

 

[Advanced Driver]

I wanted to post a similar thread too. Also how would insurance companies deal with these? The wheels will be within the manufacturers specs, and make the car safer, but would they charge more because it's a 'modification'?

My handbook says 'alloy rims 5.5 J x 14ET32'. What does this all mean. It seems to imply that they must be alloy. They are 14" and 5.5 something, but what does everything else mean? I've seen some 14 x 5.5 alloys on the Internet, but do they need all of the other 'J 14ET32' bits as well? How can you tell whether a 185 tyre would fit on them?

I would prefer steel wheels, but I'll get alloys if I need to.

 

[rob_g_clarkson]

I wanted to post a similar thread too. Also how would insurance companies deal with these? The wheels will be within the manufacturers specs, and make the car safer, but would they charge more because it's a 'modification'?

My handbook says 'alloy rims 5.5 J x 14ET32'. What does this all mean. It seems to imply that they must be alloy. They are 14" and 5.5 something, but what does everything else mean? I've seen some 14 x 5.5 alloys on the Internet, but do they need all of the other 'J 14ET32' bits as well? How can you tell whether a 185 tyre would fit on them?

I would prefer steel wheels, but I'll get alloys if I need to.

those wheels are 5.5" wide, 14" high, with an offset of 32mm....

i found this really useful for explaining offsets.... http://www.1010tires.com/WheelOffsetCalculator.asp

EDIT: as for tyre widths, a look at the manufacturers recomendations will tell what width tyres fit which width wheels... but 185mm on a 5.5 wheel is not a problem.... (i had 185 tyres on a 7.5" wheels not that long ago wwith zero problems [cue someone advising the perils of "strech" tyres] this is what it looked like; )

 

[Polypedates]

The other alternative is to just buy the tyres and have them swapped over at the start and end of winter. This is what most people in the Czech Republic do as it is the law to run winter tyres during the winter months.

 

[Advanced Driver]

The other alternative is to just buy the tyres and have them swapped over at the start and end of winter. This is what most people in the Czech Republic do as it is the law to run winter tyres during the winter months.

No, I can't see anywhere that sells winter tyres for the standard size wheel. If I could get them swapped then I would because I know somebody who can swap them for me.

 

[pdtrewern]

I would guess that the 45 profile fitted to the 100 is too low for a direct winter tyre. Maybe move upto a 195/50 r15 if available for the winter?

 

[Jazzist]

Hi Guys,
I used to own a 100HP and also tried to drive it in winter, not funny.

Back then I did some investigation, mytyres didn't list the steel rims then either. I also looked at shop4parts for Fiat originals and non listed (may be worth a further look on eper). You must be able to get spares of the original alloys (if you don't want to be remounting tyres twice a year) but then you can't get tyres for those rims..

I emailed a few alloy wheel companies at the time and the below is the best response I got:

Please see pictures attached -
Dezent A and Dezent V
they are both available at £270 for 4 wheels delivered

or see picture of Wolfrace ProSprint attached at £230 for 4

The offset of the wheel si nto critical, 35 to 38 will fit correctly.

Yes - you can get tyres from mytyres.co.uk because they are actually based in Germany where they sell a lot of Winter tyres

As regards tyre size, you could probably use 185.60.14 without any problems.

The q and a about tyre size is because 185.60.14 had more options on the mytyres website than the 185.55.14 in the 100HP handbook.

Mathew,

4x98 PCD is very rare.
14" wheels are very rare.

So 14" wheels in 4x100 PCD ET35 including special Fiat fitting kit is the best we can offer

We guarantee they will be a perfect fit on the car.

regards, Duncan

** C D Clubbe TYRESAVE (www.tyresave.co.uk) **

fitting kit = wobble bolts I guess. Time passed, winter passed, I was never 110% about spending a wad of cash and not having perfect book spec/size wheels and I never bought any. Thinking about it now that I've a bit more experience I'd probably have leant stronger toward buying them - especially now that I've driven with winter tyres on my car - what a difference!

Nowadays I drive a Bravo, and got the winter tyres and steelies from mytyres, I can deffo recommend them, they are excellent.

At the following URL you'll be able to review the German tests of winter tyres, use Google translator to get the results in English.

http://www1.adac.de/Tests/reifentests/winterreifen/default.asp?TL=2

This is very handy website for when choosing tyres (summer, all seasons, and winter). I ordered the top rated Conti Winter Contact TS830 for my Bravo. They don't test all sizes but most tyres are available in many sizes so pick the closest size reviewed and order the top tyre in your specific size.

HTH someone.

 

[Jazzist]

N.B. I seem to remember a couple of websites that had PCD98 versions of the Dezent alloys, one eastern european, one german, but no stock (but this was over a yr ago so worth googling), still a few mm off with the offset but should be no trouble.

Also if you are going for 14" rims you may want to get 5 and swap your space saver as otherwise you'll be calling breakdown if you get a flat. On my Bravo I fitted original size 16" steelies that're the same size as the alloys supplied with the car so the original space saver is Ok in an emergency.

 

[rob_g_clarkson]

I would guess that the 45 profile fitted to the 100 is too low for a direct winter tyre. Maybe move upto a 195/50 r15 if available for the winter?

not a massive choice it would appear, but gotta be better than standard, surely? (and 195/50/15's totally work on the 100hp)

Click Me

 

[huskysled]

To be honest you'd be better fitting a 185/50/15 to stop the speedo reading being illegal!
The law dictates that a speedometer must NOT read UNDER but may read OVER by up to 10%
The 195/50/15 tyre would make the speedo read under by 3.5%.
A 185/50/15 tyre will still read under but by only 1.7%
Ideally a 50 series tyre would have to have a width of 175 to be totally within the law.
Having said all that of course, I doubt whether speedo accuracy is going to be the main thing plod would be checking on a 100HP driven in anger in winter!

 

[Advanced Driver]

To be honest you'd be better fitting a 185/50/15 to stop the speedo reading being illegal!
The law dictates that a speedometer must NOT read UNDER but may read OVER by up to 10%
The 195/50/15 tyre would make the speedo read under by 3.5%.
A 185/50/15 tyre will still read under but by only 1.7%
Ideally a 50 series tyre would have to have a width of 175 to be totally within the law.
Having said all that of course, I doubt whether speedo accuracy is going to be the main thing plod would be checking on a 100HP driven in anger in winter!

Surely the width doesn't affect the speedo though? It's the profile (ie. the diameter) that makes the difference ie. the 50. So you would need a profile of 45 to keep the speedo correct. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[huskysled]

Well, no offence but, as the height of the tyre is a percentage of the width, of course it affects the speedo. 185 X 65 % = 120.25 mm tyre height around the wheel which on a 15" wheel gives a total circumference of 1953 mm whereas a, say, 195 X 50 tyre will give you a total circumference of 1810 mm. that's a difference of 7.3% ! If your car normally ran on the 185/65/15 tyre and you changed to the 195/50/15 tyre your speedo whilst actually driving at 70MPH would read 75.1 MPH. Whilst I'm sure the police would love it if we all did that, it affects the gearing of the car as well so at the same engine speed you would be going slower. Great for acceleration but not that good if you want to actually pass trucks on the motorway whilst being near a motorway cop!

 

[SurreyAlan]

the 100hp speedo is so optimistic that a change in the tyre size might make it a bit more accurate.

 

[huskysled]

That's exactly what I did with my previous Multipla. I borrowed two other satnav units different to my TomTom and set them all to read MPH. I worked out what the tyre size SHOULD be from the speedo inaccuracy. I ended up with 205/55/16 Goodyear GS-D3 on some lovely multispoke alloys. Speedo was bang on accurate and the handling was stunning!
Was looking to get my third Multipla but I think someone at Fiat UK must have been experimenting with some recreational chemicals to get the current list prices!!!!!
I can imagine the conversation, "Go on, let's try these prices for a laugh"
I mean, £525 for a CD multichanger that you can get online for £95! List price of over £19K? Crackheads!

 

[doofus_hp]

Been considering the winter tyre thing myself. Useful posts from last winter here...

https://www.fiatforum.com/panda/160824-100hp-winter-tyres-wheels.html

and here...

https://www.fiatforum.com/panda/171919-winter-tyres-100hp.html